US Sanctions against BiH the Serb Presidency member are a horrible precedent and they can only be catastrophic to the relations between the constituent peoples in the country and its two entities, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after a meeting with Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik on Friday, during which the two agreed that peace and stability are paramount for the region.

Sanctions have always brought problems and never solutions, Vucic said.

According to the statement from his cabinet noted, he asked Dodik and all other political forces in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska (RS) “to take part in the work of BiH state institutions and thus protect the interests of the Serb people and the RS.”

He pointed out that any decision is up to the RS leadership, but added that he also asked Dodik and all political representatives in RS to “consider his proposal because it is clear that some political factors that substantially threaten the stability of the entire region, via untruths and insinuations, are trying to shift the blame to the “Serbian people and the RS.”

“My plea to Dodik and all political factors in the RS is not a request to agree to anything or to vote for anything. On the contrary, my request is that the table where RS representatives should sit should not be empty and that they should fight for the interests of the entities and the Serb people,” Vucic emphasized.

Dodik said that “an unprecedented political and media campaign is being waged against the Republika Srpska and the Serb people in BiH, not only in Sarajevo but also in numerous Western centres of power.”

He mentioned the insults they received after the celebration of RS Day, which was previously declared unconstitutional by the BiH Constitutional Court, from “politicians from the West and Sarajevo,” who, according to Dodik, have presented an “ordinary event attended by regular and legal police forces of the Republika Srpska entity as a threat to peace.”

The Bosnian Serb Presidency member said that “it is almost impossible for the Serb people to fight for justice and consistent implementation of the Dayton Agreement due to a unilateral and biased approach, primarily by the United States,” the Serbian President's office said.

Vucic and Dodik also talked about the fact that the Republic of Serbia is preparing significant financial support for the RS and that the teams of the two presidents and the two governments will speed up the talks and inform the public as soon as possible.

The two also agreed to hold a grand assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the RS, including a joint meeting of the two governments, for January 27, when strategic economic projects and further improvement of cooperation in all areas between Serbia and the RS will be decided.